MEADVILLE, Pa. (pacathletics.org) - In a match that took nearly four hours to complete, Allegheny College sophomore Emiliia Grydnieva (Kyiv, Ukraine/Optima) pulled out a three-set win at No. 1 singles to clinch the 2024 Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) Women's Tennis Tournament Championship, as the top-seeded Gators outlasted Franciscan University in a 4-3 thriller.

The conference title is the second in three years for Allegheny since returning to the PAC prior to the 2022-23 season. The Gators won the 2022 title, also over Franciscan by a 5-4 count in a match that also went down to the final singles outcome. The Barons, who won the spring 2021 Covid season title and fall 2021 championship, were the first six-seed to reach the Tournament final after knocking off the No. 3 and No. 2 seeds in previous rounds.

This match was tightly contested throughout, starting with doubles. The Franciscan team of senior Olivia Colby (Merrimac, Mass./Pentucket Regional) and sophomore Jordan Beltavski (Chardon, Ohio/The Lyceum) quickly won at second doubles 6-1, which was answered by a 6-3 decision at third doubles by the Allegheny tandem of sophomore Emiliia Grydnieva (Kyiv, Ukraine/Optima) and freshman Adriana Navarro (Distrito Central, Honduras/DelCampo School).

The winner at first doubles would claim the team point and Franciscan's duo of junior Claire Cardie (Dublin, Pa./Archbishop Wood) and junior Kina Ehlers (Westerville, Ohio/Big Walnut) came away with a 7-5 victory, giving the Barons a 1-0 lead moving into singles.

In singles, Allegheny struck first with a 6-0, 6-1 win at sixth singles by freshman Evie Ellenberger (Pittsburgh, Pa./Upper St. Clair). Franciscan regained the lead with two wins within minutes of each other, first with Ehlers posting a 6-1, 6-2 decision at No. 3 and then Colby winning 6-2, 6-3 at No. 2, which gave the Barons a 3-1 lead.

That lead was short-lived, as the Gators answered right back. After a 6-4, 6-1 win at No. 5 by junior Maria Lounder (Pittsburgh, Pa./Moon Area), Allegheny evened the match when freshman Alejandra Villanueva (Bogotá, Colombia/French Touch Academy) battled through three sets for a 6-0, 1-6, 6-3 victory at No. 5. With the score tied at 3-3, it came down to the match at first singles between Grydnieva and Cardie.

Grydnieva claimed the first set 6-4, but that left Cardie in a familiar position. Franciscan was tied 3-3 with Grove City in the semifinals Saturday and the match came down to Cardie. She also lost the first set Saturday, but rallied to take the next two and send the Barons into the title match. Just as she did against Grove City, Cardie forced a deciding set with a 7-6 (7-2) victory.

The third set saw Grydnieva win the first two games, but Cardie took the next two and the match went back and forth until it was tied 6-6. Grydnieva would finally pull away to win the tiebreaker 7-4 and finish the 6-4, 6-7, 7-6 victory, which saw the players battle for just under three hours on the court.

Following the match, Grydnieva was named the Most Outstanding Player in the Tournament, as she posted a 3-0 overall record in the Gators' two Tournament matches. She was joined on the All-Tournament Team by Lounder and Villanueva, while Cardie and Ehlers earned All-Tournament Team for Franciscan. The complete All-Tournament Team is linked above.

As this year's tournament champion, Allegheny secured the PAC's automatic qualifying bid to the Division III Championships. Team selections will be announced Monday, May 5, 2025. The first round of the Division III Championships is scheduled for Friday, May 9. The Gators last trip to the NCAA Tournament was in 2023 and they reached the second round. Allegheny defeated Pitt-Greensburg 5-0 in the first round before falling to fifth-ranked Wesleyan.

Team photo courtesy of Ed Mailliard